Chapter 4 - The Men Who Followed Him
Damian was already running.
Claire followed.
Marco shouted behind them.
The upstairs hall was empty.
Lily's bedroom door stood open.
Claire's heart stopped.
"Lily!"
No answer.
She rushed inside.
The bed was empty.
The window was open.
Damian crossed the room.
A shadow moved outside.
He climbed through.
Claire ran to the window.
"Lily!"
Then she heard crying.
Not outside.
Behind her.
She turned.
Lily crawled from beneath the bed.
"Mommy!"
Claire collapsed to her knees and pulled her close.
Damian climbed back inside.
Relief transformed his face.
"What happened?" Claire asked.
Lily clung to her.
"A man came in."
"What man?"
"I don't know."
"What did he say?"
"He said my name."
Damian crouched.
"Did you see his face?"
Lily shook her head.
"He wore a hat."
"Anything else?"
"He smelled funny."
"Funny how?"
"Like Grandpa Walker's garage."
Claire looked at Damian.
"Gasoline?"
Lily nodded.
Marco entered.
"We found tracks outside."
Damian stood.
"Lock everything down."
Within minutes, the estate turned into a fortress.
Claire sat with Lily downstairs.
Her daughter was frightened now.
The adventure was gone.
"Why do bad people know my name?"
Claire struggled.
"Sometimes adults make mistakes."
"Did I make one?"
"No."
"Did you?"
Claire glanced at Damian.
"Yes."
Damian answered before she could.
"I did."
Lily looked at him.
"A big one?"
"The biggest."
"What was it?"
Damian knelt.
"I stayed away from someone I should have protected."
Claire's eyes burned.
Lily considered.
"Did you say sorry?"
Damian looked at Claire.
"Not enough."
Lily nodded.
"You should."
Children made everything simple.
After Lily fell asleep on the sofa, Claire finally told Damian about the night she left the city.
She had been six weeks pregnant.
She had packed one suitcase.
At the train station, two men approached.
They knew her name.
Knew about the pregnancy.
One told her Damian had sent them.
Damian's face changed.
"What?"
"They said you didn't want complications."
"What exactly did they say?"
Claire swallowed.
"That if I cared about the baby, I would disappear and never use the Blackwood name."
Damian stood so abruptly his chair fell backward.
"I never sent anyone."
"I know that now."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"I believed them."
"After everything between us, you thought I'd threaten our child?"
"You had just shattered my phone and told me never to contact you again."
Damian stopped.
There was nothing he could say.
Claire continued.
"They gave me cash. New documents. Directions to leave through a smaller station."
"You took them?"
"I took the documents. Not the money."
"Do you still have them?"
Claire nodded.
"At the café."
Damian called Marco.
"Retrieve them."
An hour later, Marco returned.
The documents were professionally forged.
The name on Claire's false identity was Clara White.
Damian examined the envelope.
Then froze.
A tiny embossed mark sat in the corner.
A black lion.
"My father's."
Claire's stomach twisted.
"So Alistair wanted me gone."
"Yes."
"But why?"
Damian stared at the mark.
"Because he knew."
"Knew what?"
"That if I had a child, everything changed."
Claire shook her head.
"I don't understand."
Damian walked toward the fireplace.
"My father never intended to surrender control."
"But he was sick."
"He pretended to be."
"Why fake his death?"
"To control things without being seen."
Marco leaned against the table.
"It explains a lot."
Damian turned.
"My mother found out."
Claire watched his face.
"About what?"
"His plan."
"What plan?"
Damian hesitated.
He hated speaking about his mother.
Claire knew it.
"Eleanor discovered my father was using the organization to move money through legitimate charities. People were disappearing. Witnesses were being bought. Judges were being threatened."
Claire's stomach tightened.
"She tried to expose him?"
"She tried to get me out first."
"And the bombing?"
Damian's eyes went cold.
"I always believed one of our enemies killed her."
"Now?"
"Now I'm not sure."
The room fell silent.
Claire realized the horror slowly.
"You think your father killed your mother."
Damian didn't answer.
That was answer enough.
Marco's laptop beeped.
"We've got Sebastian."
Damian turned.
A video call opened.
Sebastian appeared in a dark room.
His face was bruised.
He looked exhausted.
"Damian."
"Where are you?"
"Doesn't matter."
"You knew about Lily."
Sebastian closed his eyes.
"Yes."
Claire stepped into view.
Sebastian's face changed.
"Claire."
"You promised you'd tell him."
"I tried."
"Liar."
"I tried."
Damian slammed a hand on the table.
"You had four years."
Sebastian flinched.
"Your father threatened my family."
"He's been dead for six years."
"No."
Sebastian laughed bitterly.
"You finally figured that out."
Damian leaned toward the screen.
"Why Lily?"
Sebastian hesitated.
"Because your father believes bloodline is power."
"Speak clearly."
"He wanted a Blackwood heir he could control."
Claire pulled Lily closer.
Damian's eyes became murderous.
Sebastian continued.
"When Claire called me, Alistair was standing beside me."
Claire stared.
"He heard everything."
"Yes."
"You gave him my location."
"I gave him the number. He traced it."
"You let him send men after me."
"I was trying to keep you alive."
Claire almost laughed.
"Everyone keeps saying that after taking away my choices."
Sebastian lowered his eyes.
"You're right."
Damian's voice sharpened.
"Why didn't he take Lily?"
"Because Eleanor left something behind."
Damian froze.
"What?"
"Your mother created a trust."
"For whom?"
"For your first child."
Silence.
Sebastian continued.
"It controls nearly forty percent of Blackwood Holdings."
Damian stared.
Claire didn't understand.
"Meaning?"
Damian answered slowly.
"Lily owns the largest independent voting share in the legitimate Blackwood companies."
Claire's mouth fell open.
"She's four."
"It becomes active once her existence is legally acknowledged."
Sebastian nodded.
"That is why Alistair kept her hidden from Damian. If Damian recognizes her publicly, Alistair loses control of assets he's spent years stealing."
Claire looked down at Lily.
Her daughter was coloring.
Oblivious.
Damian's voice became quiet.
"So this was never about love."
Sebastian laughed once.
"With Alistair? It never is."
A noise sounded behind Sebastian.
He turned.
Fear crossed his face.
"Damian."
"What?"
"He's here."
The feed shook.
"Sebastian?"
"Listen to me. Your mother left evidence."
"Where?"
"In the old house."
"What evidence?"
Sebastian looked toward someone outside the frame.
Then back.
"Behind her portrait."
The screen went black.
Damian called again.
Nothing.
Marco began tracing.
Claire stood.
"You can't go there."
"I have to."
"No."
"That evidence may be the only way to end this."
"And if it's a trap?"
"It is."
Claire stared.
"You're going anyway."
"Yes."
She stepped closer.
"Then we're done."
Damian went still.
Claire's voice trembled.
"I won't watch you choose that world over Lily."
"I'm choosing her."
"No. You're choosing revenge."
"My father won't stop."
"So find another way."
"There isn't one."
"There is always another way."
Damian looked toward Lily.
For a long moment, he said nothing.
Then he removed his jacket.
Set it over the chair.
And sat down.
Marco stared.
"Boss?"
"Send a team."
"You aren't going?"
"No."
Claire's breath caught.
Damian looked at his daughter.
"I'm staying here."
Marco nodded slowly.
It was perhaps the most surprising order Damian Blackwood had ever given.
Two hours later, the team reached Blackwood Manor.
They found the portrait.
Behind it was a steel box.
Inside were financial records.
Photographs.
Audio tapes.
And Eleanor Blackwood's handwritten journal.
Marco brought digital copies.
Damian read the first page.
Then the second.
His face turned pale.
Claire sat beside him.
"What does it say?"
Damian gave her the page.
Eleanor had written:
If anything happens to me, Alistair did it.
Claire covered her mouth.
Below it:
Damian must never become his father. If he has a child, that child must be protected from this family at all costs.
Damian closed his eyes.
Claire touched his hand without thinking.
He looked down.
Neither pulled away.
Then Marco entered.
"We found something else."
He placed a photograph on the table.
Taken twenty-eight years earlier.
Alistair.
Eleanor.
And a young woman Claire didn't recognize.
On the back, Eleanor had written one name.
Sebastian Vale.
Claire frowned.
"That's not Sebastian."
"No," Damian said.
His face had gone cold.
"That's his mother."
Another photograph slid free.
The same woman.
Holding a newborn.
Beside her stood Alistair Blackwood.
And beneath the picture Eleanor had written:
ALISTAIR'S SECOND SON.
Damian stared.
Claire understood before he spoke.
"Sebastian is your brother."
A knock came from the front door.
Three slow knocks.
Marco checked the security feed.
His face drained.
"Boss."
Damian stood.
"Who is it?"
Marco turned the monitor.
Sebastian stood outside.
Alone.
Covered in blood.
He raised his face toward the camera.
May you like
Then whispered:
"Damian, don't open the door. He's standing behind me."
